


Predictions

by Kia123



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Best Friends, Coming Out, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Insecure Lando, M/M, Self-Doubt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:55:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28154202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kia123/pseuds/Kia123
Summary: Lando watches the video F1 posted about the drivers reviewing their season predictions and hearing Alex talk about his love life makes him realise some things.
Relationships: Lando Norris/Carlos Sainz Jr
Comments: 4
Kudos: 121





	Predictions

**Author's Note:**

> All the talk about Lando’s love life on twitch and on twitter made me come up with this. It’s purely fiction, please don’t share outside of AO3.  
> Hope you enjoy it.

Lando is exhausted. It’s the last race of the season and the third weekend of the triple header, so it’s bound to be tiring.  
He has a few hours until he has to get ready for the last debrief and the race so he climbs up the stairs to his driver room, takes off his shoes and drops down on the beanbag. It’s so soft he almost gets swallowed by it but he doesn’t mind it. It’s comfy. 

He tries to take a nap but his mind is racing. There are just too many things happening at once and he doesn’t have enough time to digest all of it.  
To think of other things he gets out his phone and scrolls through social media mindlessly. He clicks through photos and videos, liking some of them without really processing anything. It’s just a blur of fake smiles and staged appearances. 

A video catches his eye. _Drivers look back on their 2020 predictions_.  
He is a part of this one, they filmed it with the official Formula 1 crew yesterday.  
He clicks on it just because he has nothing else to do. He is only half paying attention but it turns out the video is actually quite funny.  
George’s predictions make him smile. He’ll definitely tease Max about the 5 wins that he predicted. 

When Carlos appears on screen his face lights up. Lando is suddenly completely focused on the video, not wanting to miss anything the Spaniard says.  
He can’t help but admire Carlos’ dark brown eyes, his muscular arms and the way he’s holding himself.  
He’s proud of his teammate. He seems so funny and likeable and confident.  
Lando is lost in thoughts for a few moments, even after Carlos’ part is already over.

He skips his own appearance because he doesn’t really like to listen to his own voice and especially his high pitched laugh. People seem to find it endearing but he doesn’t get it.  
To him it’s just obnoxious and childlike.

Alex appears on screen and Lando can’t keep a laugh from escaping his lips when he’s making a joke about George’s shirtless pictures. But his laugh suddenly freezes when he hears Alex’ second prediction. _Lando will have a girlfriend_.  
He watches the next bit with a frown on his face, his stomach clenched. He closes the app, is not interested in watching the rest of the video.

Lando ducks deeper into the beanbag trying to hide himself from the world. He just wanted to relax a bit but now he’s feeling awful again. _Great_.  
He doesn’t want to look at social media again. There will probably be thousands of comments talking about Alex's prediction for him.  
Talking about the possibility of him being taken, of having a girlfriend. There will be assumptions about his every move and every like or follow on instagram will get overanalysed.  
He really wants to hate Alex for mentioning it but he knows he can’t.  
His heart is beating rapidly and he’s desperately trying to calm his breathing.  
The worst thing about all of this is that Alex didn’t mean any harm. He just doesn’t know. Nobody does. And it is slowly but surely killing Lando. 

His throat is feeling dry and he’s breathing heavily now. He has to do something about this.  
Well, he actually can’t change anything right now, because it’s already done. But he can do something to prevent similar things from happening again.  
Lando dreaded this for years now but he just can’t take it anymore. He will open up to at least some of his friends.  
He tells himself he’ll feel better afterwards, even though he can’t really see it at the moment.  
For now he closes his eyes, snuggling into the softness that is the beanbag beneath him.  
He won’t open his socials for a while, he will tell Alex and George and maybe even Max and Charles.  
And everything will be fine, at least that’s what he tells himself, trying to relax.

~

Lando wakes up when the beanbag beneath him moves due to another person sitting down on it.  
He is startled and straightens himself but he quickly realises it’s just Carlos. He slumps back into the soft surface, sighing.  
Just Carlos. He almost laughs at himself. If it is just Carlos then why is his heartbeat accelerated? Why does his stomach start tingling and why do his palms get sweaty?  
He knows he can’t fool himself. He’s hopelessly lost. 

„I’m sorry, I didn’t want to wake you up.“ Carlos apologises and makes himself comfortable, leaning back. „You can keep sleeping if you want.“  
„What are you doing here?“ Lando’s voice sounds small and squeaky and he hates it. Obviously Carlos will never take him seriously if he keeps talking like that.  
„I was just bored and wanted to spend some time with you.“  
Lando tries not to blush. „Oh.“  
„You know, we have to make the most of this last weekend as teammates.“  
He doesn’t want to think about that at all. He can’t bear the thought of not being teammates with Carlos anymore, and what that will do to their relation, so he just shuts it out completely.

Lando blames it on the fact that he’s still half asleep because he shuffles closer to Carlos and rests his head on the older one’s shoulder and he would have never dared to do so if completely awake.  
Carlos just smiles at him softly and moves a bit closer as well.  
„Just sleep Lando. You have to be well rested for the race.“

He tries to do so but he can’t. Not with Carlos by his side. He just watches the Spaniard scrolling through his phone, just like he did earlier.  
And just as he had stumbled upon the video, so does Carlos. „Oh let’s watch this one.“  
Lando frowns. He really doesn’t want to go through this again, but realistically there is nothing he can do about it. Carlos would want to know a plausible reason if Lando told him not to watch the video.  
„I’ve already seen it.“ He half-heartedly tries. „It’s not that great.“  
„Oh come on, cabrón.“ Lando know he can’t say no to Carlos so he doesn’t try again.

Carlos is giggling and making some comments, obviously enjoying the video. Lando just observes him, trying not to gush too much.  
„Why didn’t you enjoy this video mate? It’s great.“ Carlos nudges him with his elbow but Lando just shrugs his shoulders.

He knows that Alex’s part is about to start and he clenches his hands nervously. He doesn’t want to watch it again but nevertheless he can’t avert his eyes.  
Lando is actually holding his breath as he is observing Carlos’ reaction to Alex’s comments about his love-life.  
Carlos frowns. „He has a point. Why don’t you have a girlfriend Lando?“  
Lando just stares at him, not knowing how to react at all.  
„Or do you have one? I don’t think so. You would’ve told me right?“

Lando can’t do this. Not right now. Not with Carlos. Why is this happening?  
He already made the decision to finally tell some people the truth but he didn’t plan on telling Carlos. Particularly not right now. He just wasn’t prepared for this at all.  
He panics.

„Whats wrong Lando?“ Carlos is no longer watching the video but instead turns towards Lando a bit, in order to find out what’s going on with his teammate.  
Lando shakes his head frantically and tries to move away from Carlos, but the soft texture of the beanbag just swallows his attempt.  
Carlos is now seriously concerned and he grabs Lando’s shoulder, trying to give him some comfort. Lando just freezes.  
„Can’t tell you.“ He manages to spit out. He needs to be alone. He has to sort his thoughts in order to function properly again.

Carlos seems confused now but he just rubs Lando’s shoulder firmly. „I won’t force you but you know you can tell anything, don’t you? Were best friends aren’t we?“  
„I guess.“ Lando is feeling dizzy, that’s how much this situation overwhelms him.  
„What do you mean? I guess?“ Lando is not entirely sure but Carlos’ voice sounds hurt.  
He groans desperately. The last thing he wanted was to hurt Carlos. He covers his face with his hands, trying to hold back the tears. „It’s all just too complicated ok?“  
Carlos sighs deeply and removes his hand from Lando’s shoulder. „Yeah you’re right I guess. It really is.“

„What do you mean by that?“ Lando is a bit astonished. The Spaniard’s sad voice distracted him from his own self critical thoughts.  
„Tell me what’s going on with you and I’ll tell you what I mean.“  
„That’s not fair.“  
Carlos laughs dryly. „How is that not fair Lando? It’s literally the first thing in the world.“  
„No it isn’t.“ Lando insists. „You wouldn’t get it.“  
And how could he? How could Carlos have a clue about what’s bothering Lando and to what extend it’s straining him.  
„I think I would.“ Carlos sounds almost cautious.

Lando suddenly can’t hold back anymore. He just blurts it out to his own surprise and utter horror. „I’m gay.“  
He starts crying.  
Carlos wraps his arms around him and holds him tight. He runs his hands trough Lando’s hair and rubs his shoulders, trying to calm the younger one down.  
„Nobody else knows.“ Lando admits between sobs.  
„I’m glad you told me.“ Carlos wipes away some of Lando’s tears.

„Alex’s comment made me feel awful. Even though I know he didn’t mean any bad. He just doesn’t know. But it made me realise that I want to tell some people. But I’m so scared.“ Lando presses his face into Carlos’ shoulder in order to hide himself from the world.  
Carlos keeps comforting him. „Telling people is the right thing to do. And Lando, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being gay. Please don’t ever think that. If anybody ever treats you badly for it, I will personally fight them.“  
Lando just sobs again. Clutching onto Carlos tighter, savouring his warmth and his soft touches.

„Do you want to know a secret?“ The older one mumbles amused.  
„Yeah.“ Lando responds breathlessly, even though he’s not entirely sure if he is ready for it.  
„I’m not straight either.“  
Lando’s heart skips a beat and he jerks away from Carlos. „What?“  
„I’m bi.“ Carlos just shrugs his shoulders, as if it were nothing.  
„What?“ Lando seems to have forgotten any other words. He can’t believe what Carlos has just told him. He is already trying to work out if he could be joking, messing around.  
„I’m bi. Bisexual. I like both girls and boys.“ The Spaniards explains calmly.  
„I know what being bisexual means.“ He snorts.  
„Then why are you so shocked?“  
„I don’t know.“ It’s a lie, but he can forgive himself for this one. He knows exactly why. He just can’t believe that there could actually be the slightest possibility of Carlos liking him back. He knows it’s still highly unlikely but at least it’s not impossible anymore because of Carlos’ sexuality.

„You’re not alone Lando.“  
The younger one has no idea how Carlos knows that he need to hear it. He didn’t even know it himself but as Carlos voices these words, they just get to him.  
He latches on to Carlos and tries to control his breathing.  
„I won’t leave you alone, even if we’re no longer teammates. We can get trough all this together if you want.“  
Carlos offers Lando an open smile and he holds out his hand, waiting for Lando to grab it. 

Suddenly Lando feels as if there is some deeper meaning behind all of that.  
He somehow knows that Carlos is not only talking about being a queer person in a heteronormative sport.  
Lando spots the fire that is burning in Carlos’ deep brown eyes and it is devouring him. He can’t breath. 

„What do you mean?“ He croaks, voice hoarse.  
Carlos bites his lip and Lando thinks he has never seen the Spaniard this nervous before.  
„I mean that I’m here if you want me."  
Carlos offers him his hand again, waiting patiently. This time, Lando takes it carefully. Both of them are observing as they interlock their fingers. Lando is trembling.  
„I want you.“ His whisper is barely audible, but Carlos catches it nonetheless.  
He tugs on Lando’s hand to pull him into his arms again and Lando can feel both of their hearts racing.  
They hold on to each other trying to comprehend what’s happening. Lando is still shaking violently and Carlos pets his back absentmindedly.  
„I’ve wanted this for such a long time Carlos.“ Lando looks up at his teammate.  
„Me too Lando. Me too.“  
Carlos slowly lowers his head until their lips meet for the softest of first kisses.


End file.
